we're getting ready to build our coop - electricity?

[tara7815]

What is the best way to get electricity to our coop? It will be about 50 - 75 feet from the main house.

 

[thegoldengirls]

We're building one now also. We are going to run a heavy duty extension cord to the coop. Then if we decide to move it, the cord can also be moved. We burried the electric to the goat barn because we knew we weren't likely to move that one.

 

[jafo]

If you can find a suitable spot to penetrate your sill, on the side of the house where the coop will be, I'd drill through it to the basement, seal it bug proof, then run the wire encased in say 1" pvc tube buried 6 inches deep to the coop. Myself, I just drilled through, then ran an extra heavy extension cord 6 inches deep, no "encasement tube" Works great.

 

[Barry Natchitoches]

My main hen house and the mobile chicken tractor both have electricity.


In both cases, I have done it using heavy duty extension cords. One important thing I did, though, was to get an electrician over here to rig my electrical service so that the chickens are on their own circuit.


This was important because the main hen house has two electric panel heaters in it, plus 8 florescent light tubes that are programmed to turn on at dawn and off at dusk, plus there are two large fans in the house as well.


Plus the chicken tractor has a 250 watt red heat lamp for winter, plus a separate white light that is programmed to go on at dawn and off at dark. I put a fan in the chicken tractor in the summer as well.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I hired an electrician and buried a properly sized, code approved type cable that ran from a properly sized circuit breaker in the circuit breaker panel to another panel in the shed. Then I ran separate light and power circuits from the breaker box.

It depends on how comfortable you are with electricity or if your friends and relatives are knowledgable. It also depends on what you want to do with the electricity. My coop is in an end of a shed. I wanted extra circuits so I could plug in a saw or drill or weed eater and not have problems with the heat lamp for the chicks in the brooder.

This can get expensive, but I am comfortable I will not get shocked or burn down either my house or the shed and coop. Personal choice. Good luck!

 

[Schroeder]

I too hired an electrician, but saved a bundle by renting a trencher for 3 hours and doing that part myself.